The Ukrainian side is submitting requests to Russia to return the bodies of servicemen who were allegedly on the downed IL-76 aircraft. This was reported to Suspilne by the representative of the GUR Andriy Yusov, UNN reports.
Context
On January 24, an Il-76 military transport plane crashed in the Korocha district of the Belgorod region of Russia. The Russian Defense Ministry said that 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war were on board, who were being transported for an exchange. On February 1, a representative of the Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate, Andriy Yusov, said that Ukraine had appealed to Russia to return the bodies of prisoners of war who, according to Kremlin propagandists, allegedly died as a result of the crash of the Russian IL-76, but the aggressor state did not respond to requests.
The DIU representative then explained that as part of the exchange, Ukrainians who were supposed to be exchanged on January 24 returned home on January 31, except for 65 people on the list published by Kremlin-controlled Russian propagandists.
The spokesman then emphasized that the status of these 65 soldiers, whom the Russians declared allegedly dead, has not changed in Ukraine - they are considered prisoners of war.
"Regarding the information about the deaths, yes, Ukraine has been and continues to be asking for the transfer of the bodies. So far, the Russian side has not done so," Yusov emphasized on February 1.